Phoenix: Heat of the Moment
by Fireteam Pluto
Summary: By Neeb. The follow-up to Dating Advice With Fireteam Pluto. Picking up right where Dating Advice left off, follow Koru Sen and Eve Delaine on their patrol date as they learn a little about each other and a lot about themselves. Will sparks fly and butterflies flutter, or will their attempt to find romance be for naught?
1. Chapter 1

"Well you know what that means, don't you?" Commander Roy laughed heartily and reached down with his hand extended to help Koru to his feet.

"A drink!" Phoenix answered. It wasn't a guess.

"How'd you know?" Roy asked as he led the group to the bar located below the hangars.

"It's you, Roy. Everything calls for a drink." Phoenix replied.

"Yeah, you right." Roy said with a smile as he pulled two full steel flasks from his belt and offered one to each of his teammates. Phoenix took one and downed a mighty gulp without hesitation.

"Whew!" Phoenix shook his head a few times, with vigor, as the taste and burn of the strong alcohol caught up to him. "Good rum, Roy." He nudged Koru in the side lightly but the warlock didn't seem to notice as they descended the concrete stairs that led to the hangars. Ahead of them and beyond a high fence, guardians' ships were being landed and stowed away, piloted from afar by their ghost's AI.

They took a left and made their way down more stairs past the Tower shipwright Amanda Holliday, who gave a friendly wave as they passed, and the Dead Orbit recruiter tucked into a corner among crates and other cargo marked with the guild's logo. Their boots clanked on steel as they went down the long stairway lit with deep red lights that led to the bar.

Koru Sen walked on, eyes on the ground in front of him. His eyes danced, aglow as he contemplated the possibilities of the date he was about to go on. Would it go smoothly? Each step brought another of the infinite undesirable outcomes to the forefront of his mind. He shook his head clear of those thoughts and at last noticed Roy holding the unmarked flask out to him.

"Come on, have a little." Roy smiled warmly down to his teammate.

"What's in it?" Koru asked, taking it and unscrewing the lid. His gold eyes met Roy's browns and he took a light sniff of the stuff, and immediately recoiled. The sharp, almost burning fumes assaulted his senses.

Roy glanced down to the plain silver flask the Awoken warlock held, but shrugged indifferently. "Rum. Maybe whiskey, I never mark those ones. Just take a drink, it'll help you calm down."

Koru blinked in sudden realization. "Wait, aren't we going to a bar? Why are you offering me alcohol on the way there?"

"Because fuck you, that's why." Roy replied with a dry smile and took the open flask from Koru's hand. He tilted his head back and wrapped his lips around its neck, swallowing a huge gulp after landing on each steel step on the way down. He had emptied it by the time they reached the bottom. After wiping his lips, he remarked. "That one was whiskey."

Phoenix led the way to the right, past the robotic frame repair workshop and to the nightclub beyond. It had a steady red and blue glow and a strangely calming, quiet ambiance at this time of day despite the rhythmic beats playing over the speakers. "Hey, Roy's a walking bar, so next time just take the drink, buddy." He patted Koru on the back and led him to a seat at the bar. He and Roy sat down on either side of the warlock.

"All right," Phoenix started as he waved over to the bartender, a frame painted sky blue. It had a towel draped over one shoulder and was busy washing glasses, but hurried at the call of a patron. "It's less than an hour, right? You got a game plan?"

"How may I help you, sirs?" The frame asked with a deep, synthetic voice. In stood eerily still on the other side of the counter.

"Yeah," Phoenix looked over to Koru. "He'll have two shots of your smoothest whiskey. Get me a pint of your finest stout. And, ah, Roy," he called to the titan, "What are you drinkin'?"

"Everything." Roy answered simply, then continued. "Give me your strongest stuff in as many glasses as you have, and keep 'em comin'."

For a moment the bartender was perfectly still. Silence overcame the scene and only the dance music from the lounge broke its nearly maddening grasp. At last the bartender spoke. "Affirmative. And who shall I charge?"

Phoenix smirked and made a finger-gun to mock fire and Koru. "Put it on this guy's tab, pal."

Koru sat bolt-upright and clenched his jaw. Even as he opened his mouth to protest, the bartender's single lens that served as its eye flared a bright green and flashed Koru's face with an intricate display of lines in a grid that shone up and down his face.

"Hey," Koru grimaced, squinting to avoid the pain of staring into the light.

"Facial scan complete. Checking database. Thank you. You will be notified of your debt tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, Mr. Koru Sen."

Koru sighed and looked to his teammate as the bartender went about fetching their orders. "You're getting next round."

"Gotta be quick on the draw, buddy." Phoenix smiled and caught the glass mug that came sliding across the bar toward him. He inspected his drink. "Nice head," he took a sip, "Good flavor. Hey Koru, tip that guy for me when we're done here."

The two whiskey shots were poured from a deep green bottle with perfect measure and not a single drop spilled. Koru looked at them long after the frame had left to set Roy's order up.

"So anyway, got a game plan, buddy? Maybe reorganize the rocks in the trenches, categorize debris alphabetically?" Phoenix chuckled and took a bigger drink.

"Phoenix, I've never been on a date before, but even I know that's moronic. It's only lending a hand during patrol. So I'll help her on her missions and we'll come back to the Tower. Easy stuff." His eyes stayed locked on his untouched drinks.

"So what's the problem?"

"I don't know what to talk about. What if I say the wrong thing? It could get awkward, or end early, or she could get mad at me-"

"Hey! HEY!" Roy shouted and slammed his fist on the bar as he stood up a little from his stool. "I said your strongest, damn it, don't try to skimp on me, jackass!"

The bartender frame paused and jerked its head to the side as it reached up to the top shelf. It set down one bottle and grabbed another. Almost sheepishly, it responded. "Subroutine: skimp-nine-dash-nine terminated."

"Better." Roy sat down again and turned to face Koru. He gently pushed one of the shot glasses toward the warlock's hand. "Here's my advice. Take a drink, then the other one, loosen up, and relax. Just don't fuck up and you'll be fine."

Koru lifted a glass and took the shot, tilting his head back. The alcohol went down smooth but still burned in his throat like liquid fire. He shook his head and took a deep breath. "But what if I do fuck up?"

Roy shrugged and tossed back three shots of various alcohol that the bartender had set in front of him before answering. "Then don't."

"Thanks." Koru responded almost absently.

"Hey," Phoenix said, "Talk philosophy or whatever to her. That works for warlocks, right?"

"I don't think she's that kind of girl." Koru took the second shot, and it burned as badly as the first.

"Try a story. We have some good ones. Or maybe a joke?" Phoenix took several big gulps of his drink and slammed the mug down on the counter. "Another!" he called. The bartender finished pouring another drink for Roy and went to address Phoenix's order.

Roy downed one drink and another in rapid succession, then grabbed the bottle that the barkeep had left in front of him and tipped it into his mouth.

"Yeah, that could be effective. What's a good joke?" Koru asked, pondering.

"Your face!" Roy exclaimed, laughing. "Ahh, but really, all else fails, just try seducing her. Here's a good line." He cleared his throat. "Hey girl, did you fall from heaven? Because I always wanted to fuck an angel. Classic" He took another swig from the bottle, and the frame firmly yanked it away from his mouth. "Hey, what?"

The frame glanced down at the bottle and scanned it with the same system it used to identify Koru. "Label identified. Price recorded." It then handed the bottle back to Roy, who resumed drinking while it prepared others for him.

Koru sighed and glanced up to the clock above the top shelf liquors. "You already told me that one, Roy. Half an hour ago."

Phoenix lightly clapped Koru on the shoulder. "Dude, don't stress. Just breathe, relax, and… Okay, crazy idea. Leave your radio on and me and Roy will listen in and help you if you get stuck! We'll make sure to stay hidden, too." He beamed with pride at the idea.

Koru focused his gaze on the ticking clock, tapping his finger on the counter in rhythm while he rested his chin on his knuckles. "Hmm. That eliminates possible failures in the four-digit range. Just might work."

Roy tipped the bottle back completely, slamming it down on the bar hard enough to shatter it, glass shards flying across the room. "Holy shit! Stealth mission?"

"Stealth mission!" Phoenix exclaimed, reaching over to fist-bump Roy.

Koru held his face in his palm. "Stealth mission…"


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh wow, is that him? Never saw him so close. He's pretty cute." The exo woman looked out the window to the hangar and nodded approvingly.

"Oz! Don't stare, he might see you!" Eve whispered across the room harshly.

Nestled in the upstairs captain's lounge of the hangars complete with soft sofas and large overlook windows, the warlock was sitting on the plush red loveseat that matched the color of her coat that was currently draped over one of its heavily cushioned arms.

"Hmm." The exo, Ozara-4, reached up and tapped on the glass, watching the members of Fireteam Pluto pass by underneath, presumably on their way to the bar downstairs. "You know it's reinforced, bulletproof, double layered, and one-way, right? A bomb could go off in here and no one would know until Lakshmi reports it. And you know with her track record-"

Eve cut her off, holding up one hand. "Stop, please, and focus for a second? For me?"

Ozara turned around and approached the semicircle of soft seats. She wore heavy, bulky black body armor tinted with pastel pink highlights on the shoulder-pieces, and when she sat on of the chairs next to Eve with similar make to the loveseat, it gave a surprising amount of bounce. The titan looked to the warlock, seeing the slight but evident desperation in her friend's eyes.

The exo nodded, sighed and bowed her head for a moment. When she raised it again her sky-blue optics seemed to glow a little brighter, the hard metal features of her face seemed to soften, and even her dark green paintjob seemed to lighten. "You're right. This date thing is big for you, so I'm all ears." She wiggled her short, retractable antennae for emphasis.

Eve giggled and propped her boots up on the coffee table. "Thanks. I don't know why, but this guy seems different. I mean, not by much, but enough. I'm actually a little nervous."

"Well," Ozara started, "He's honest, smart. Very awkward. But, Eve, honey, he's very different for you. I don't know what this guy does in the field, but I've never seen him in the Crucible. He's not from the crowd you usually get guys from, that's all. Tell me more, let me help."

"I guess now I'm wondering why he asked me out. We're two different orders, we never spoke before, I never see him in the Tower except when I go to the library or he's stalking me." Eve reached over to the empty sofa, grabbed a pillow and set it in her lap. "Like, I get that his buddies helped him out and psyched him up to get the courage to ask, yeah, but he had to have expected rejection, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold on though. He was stalking you?" Ozara leaned in, head lowered slightly to glower at Eve.

"Yup." A new, but familiar third voice piped up.

The warlock and titan looked up to see the familiar hunter, an Awoken female with violet skin and short navy blue hair, of their team standing behind the sofa. "Your boyfriend's kind of a creep, Eve." She said as she hopped over the back of the couch and made herself comfortable by laying down on it. She was clad in her familiar gold armor with its black undersuit and accents, her long white cape elegantly draped over the edge of the sofa. Her bright steel eyes locked onto Eve's greens.

"He's not my boyfriend." Eve replied.

"Ew, even worse, then." The hunter ran a hand through her hair and pushed it out of her eyes.

"Why didn't either of you tell me Eve was being stalked?" Ozara asked, her voice rising and her hands balling into fists.

"Because of that." The hunter answered flippantly. "He wasn't really a threat and if we told you, you would go berserk and rip his arms off."

Ozara paused a moment. Then, "And what if he was a threat?"

"Pretty sure Eve could kick his ass. Oh, and by the way, they're just down in the bar. Don't think your boyfriend is much of a drinker, but his big friend is almost halfway drunk."

"Look, Oz," Eve smiled and put her hand on the exo woman's knee. "I saw him staring about a week ago, and I figured it was harmless. I told Lily because she's good at sneaking around. So I had her, well," She looked away, a blush rising, "I had her counter-stalk for me. She said she didn't find anything bad. Isn't that right, Lil?"

Lily shrugged and pulled her gloves off, drew a knife from her belt, and proceeded to clean the dirt from under her fingernails with the tip. "Eh, nothing that bad. Overheard a few journal entries that mentioned you. The usual 'woe-is-me' kind of crap you'd expect from a lonely nerdy guy. Oh, and a few really bad poems. He seemed harmless, and we were right. A week of puppy-dog eyes before his teammates notice and he only has the balls to ask her out once they tell him he does."

"Yeah." Eve patted Ozara's knee softly. "See? He's not a bad guy. He's just a little different.

"Okay." Ozara rested a firm hand over Eve's and squeezed. "Okay, I trust your judgement."

"Honestly, though, Eve." Lily turned her head to face Eve, "When he did finally ask you out, why did you say yes?"

"I don't know." Eve replied, flustered. "I guess his shyness was cute. And he seems really nice and honest. Most guys aren't really like that."

"Most guys you know." Ozara corrected.

Eve recoiled slightly and touched her fingertips of one hand to her temple in frustration. "Okay, I get it. I've dated jerks before. You don't have to rub it in."

"Tisk tisk," Lily turned back to look up toward the ceiling. "When will you learn, Eve? No man will ever be good enough for you." Her full lips curled into a sly smirk.

Eve rolled her eyes. "Ugh, one little kiss and you think we're a thing." She threw her pillow at the hunter playfully. Lily caught it and tucked it under her head.

"I could prove it if you want."

"You're the worst." Eve felt her cheeks getting hot. After a deep breath she asked, "So it's in less than an hour and I think I'm ready. But I need to know," She stood up and put her rose-red trenchcoat on, straightening her collar meticulously. "Do I look fine?"

"Fine as ever and always, babe." Lily remarked. "It's a patrol date, no big deal. He won't notice even if you weren't."


	3. Chapter 3

The wind howled as the sun set on the Siberian steppes, blowing cold powder around their ankles in swirls of crystalline dust. From the west the fading light of the sun just barely touching the horizon painted the dreary, rusted landscape a marvelous reddish gold.

Winding their way through the remnants of a far-flung long-forgotten past, the warlocks walked side by side, alert and ready for almost anything.

Koru's ice-white coat billowed on the wind and his helmet, an angular facade reminiscent of an eagle whose beak extended out to hood the visor, glinted in the light, painted white and streaked with red.

He admired Eve in her full combat gear, especially her helmet, a modified version of the standard hooded design complete with an intricate engraving of a deep-rooted wide-reaching tree on the top and extending down the back.

"So," Koru started, glancing down and kicking at a small rock absently. He swallowed hard and clenched his jaw. It had barely been five minutes since touching down, but the silence had made it feel like an eternity. "What kind of missions do we have?"

"The usual. Investigate the area, report enemy numbers and movements, kill a few problematic targets, and go home." She hummed softly to herself and led the way up a rocky slope that overlooked a cluster of rusty and bombed-out buildings that Koru guessed were once a military outpost that had since been lost to time. Though she carried herself with an air of nonchalance, Eve's trigger finger twitched with anticipation. "Weird. The last guy reported a squad of Fallen squatting down there, said he couldn't clear them out on his own."

"Huh. Yeah," Koru agreed, speaking quickly. "Yeah, uh, that is weird."

A soft crackle in his ear was followed by Phoenix talking in a low whisper. "Hey buddy. I can see you from here. I'll pay your tab if you can tell me where."

Koru stiffened and looked around, scanning the crags and hills on the horizon, the gully at the base of the hill the outpost was built upon. He didn't find a sign of his teammates.

"Dude, don't look around like that, she'll get suspicious. All right, me and Roy cleared out that Fallen squad for you. Ask her about that place."

Koru almost nodded but stopped himself. "You sound disappointed. Did you want to fight those Fallen?"

"Kinda, yeah. I figured with two of us it could be really fun." She stood looking at the base, the wind ruffling the hem of her red trenchcoat.

Another faint burst of static. This time it was Roy. "Our bad, brah."

"Well," Eve turned to Koru, "We should check it out anyway. If they moved on, they might have left tracks."

"Oh, I don't think there'll be much of them left." He offered with a chuckle, but was met with an unwavering stare from Eve.

"What does that mean?" She asked.

He recovered quickly, "Well, you see, they're Fallen. They're remarkably good at covering their tracks. Still, we should go and investigate."

She was slow to comply. "Right. Of course." She turned and made her way down the steep riverbank into the dry ravine. Koru followed.

Phoenix spoke to him again, "Hey, ask her about her teammates. It's a good ice breaker. Get it?"

Koru dug his boot into the scree and thin layer of ice as he slid down about twenty feet into the ravine. "Hey, could you tell me about your teammates? What name did the Speaker give you?" He asked her. "We're Fireteam Pluto."

She responded with a lightness to her voice, "We're Fireteam Hades." She responded simply.

He smiled and looked over to her. "Hmm. Seems appropriate."

Phoenix chimed in: "Wow, what a coincidence."

Roy added: "I don't get it."

"And my teammates? Why would you want to know about them?"

Koru took a split second pause before coming up with an answer. "It's good to know what company one keeps, isn't it?" He hoped it was a good enough question.

"I see. Well, my teammates are…" She walked on, up the rising slope of the old river, stepping on smooth rocks once at the water's bed. She paused to think of the perfect word. At last finding it, she continued. "They're eccentric, to say the least. Great girls, salt of the earth, but very interesting. Quirky, even."

"We have that in common." Koru offered.

Eve went on, barely hearing him. "Lilei is really possessive and wicked with a knife. You met her."

"The one in yellow armor who threatened my life, right?"

"Yeah, seems about right. She's really into me, so don't take it personally. Hmm." She pulled herself up and over a boulder and reached down to help Koru before beginning the climb up the hill to the outpost. "And then there's Ozara. She's a real sweetheart, and very protective of Lilei and I. But she is prone to acts of extreme violence."

Koru kept in line next to her as they crested the somewhat steep slope of the hill at last. "Is she a titan?"

Eve took a glance at the surroundings before coming fully up and over the hill. "Yes, why?"

"Oh, just noticing a trend. That's all."

The base was built as a square. To the south was the entrance, paved road chewed and broken by centuries of elemental abuse. To the east was a large, flat and open area possibly used as an overwatch position, firing range or even parking lot. On the west side was a thin-walled rectangular structure with a caved-in ceiling and long-gone windows that Koru had supposed had been the barracks. On the north side of the square was the large operations building. In the center between all of these stood about half of an old radio communications tower.

The wind blew the unmistakable stench of blood and gas through the eaves and weather worn holes of the old ops building.

It was built as an almost perfect cube, about thirty feet wide and tall with huge barn doors to accommodate a lot of movement in and out. Inside was bathed in dim light except the imperfect dappled beams of amber sunlight streaming through moth-eaten holes in the thinning walls and bowing ceiling. Strewn about the single, large room were worn out computers, desks and tables turned over centuries ago. Draped over the old office furniture in a macabre mimicry of a drunken brawl were the fresh corpses of the Fallen squadron. At a glance, Koru counted six bodies.

"Holy shit." Eve muttered as she bent at the knees slightly to inspect a Fallen captain. His helmet was caved in between his four eyes and leaking white ether gas from the mouthpiece with a weak hiss. He was slumped against the wall, held up only by the two shock swords in his gut that pinned him to it. "Koru," Eve glanced at the captain's torn and tattered cloak, gold thread spattered with blood. "This was a House of Kings patrol unit." She moved to inspect some of the other bodies.

"You are correct." Koru nodded, almost in appreciation of his teammate's silent handiwork. One vandal had been beheaded with his own sword, another was missing half of its face from a point-blank shot from a wire rifle. A third vandal was missing an arm, Koru spied it lying a few feet away, and its helmet showed signs of severe damage from blunt-force trauma.

He counted three dregs cleanly cut in half laying in a pathetic pile of limbs toward the back of the room, bringing the body count up the seven.

"I wonder who did this. It's clean, and quiet. There's three options: The House of Devils, houseless Fallen, or Guardians; likely hunters." Eve paced back and forth slowly in front of the scene.

Phoenix piped up, "Wow, your girlfriend is pretty smart, dude. What's her favorite animal?"

Koru tilted his head slightly. "Does that even matter?" He realized too late he had said it for Eve to hear, as well.

She stopped and looked over to him. He seemed to shrink back against the row of old computer terminals. "Of course it matters. Depending on who did this they could still be around, or prompt the Kings to send a recovery unit. Or even worse, a counter strike team to this location and I don't want to deal with that right now."

"Well-" Koru was interrupted by a short crackle of electricity followed by a sharp exhale and eerie silence from the back of the room. He turned and stepped closer.

Beneath two dregs' lower halves lay a full dreg, keeping completely still except for its rapid, almost silent breathing. It looked up to the warlock with four glowing blue eyes rimmed with gold.

Eve approached. "Well what? I…" She paused at seeing the dreg and was quick to produce her assault rifle, blood-red with a bayonet on the underside of the barrel. She leveled it at the Fallen.

Koru brought his arm up and pushed her back behind him slightly. "Hold on. Don't shoot. It's scared."

The dreg gave up on trying to hide. It crawled out from beneath the limbs of its fallen comrades and scrambled to stand up on its feet. It pressed its back against the wall just a few feet down from where its captain hung impaled on his own swords. The dreg brandished a small knife that crackled with electricity in one shaky hand. It chittered and rasped at them, half-threateningly.

Eve looked from Koru to the dreg and back again. "Can you talk to it?"

"What makes you think I could do that?"

She shrugged slightly. "I don't know. You're Awoken, don't you have Fallen out in the Reef?"

"I'm not from the Reef." Koru replied. He stood still, watching the dreg's gold-rimmed eyes flicker between the two guardians.

"Oh, sorry, I just thought that…" She trailed off when she realized he wasn't listening.

"Uh huh." Koru responded, then muttered low under his breath, "Hey, Dari, real-time translate into Eliksni and mute my direct mic."

" _That's a complicated order_." Dari, Koru's ghost, responded directly to his mind. " _Can't we just kill it?_ "

"Just do it." Koru hissed.

" _All right, fine, okay. Let me know when you're done. Make it quick._ "

With that, Koru felt Dari's presence fade into the background again. He cleared his throat and spoke, pleased to hear that his mic's only output was the translation into the hissy, chittery Fallen tongue. "We will spare you, little one." He said, "Go. You may survive with the Kings, or," He paused, "You may seek out the House of Spirits and live as a warrior-kell should. The choice is yours, but I do not recommend wasting my generosity on a House that does not value your own life." He held his hands up, palms up and out.

Eve took a surprised step back when Koru began speaking the Fallen language.

The dreg locked eyes on Koru's helmet visor, and nodded slightly in understanding. Still keeping its knife raised and crackling, it circled around the computers closer to Koru, well away from Eve, as it made its way out of the building. It paused near Koru to sniff at him curiously before emerging into the light of sundown outside the building.

Eve kept her rifle trained on the dreg until it finally reached the comm tower and turned its back to them. She at last lowered it and watched as the dreg turned to watch her over its shoulder warily until it began its descent down the southern slope. "Okay, what the hell?" She finally allowed herself to ask.

"Dari, translate off. Mic back on." Koru whispered.

" _Whatever, man._ " Dari responded dryly. Though he was always compliant, Koru's ghost still managed to get on his nerves.

Koru sighed. "I told it to leave."

Eve rested her hand on her hip. "That's it? Because I thought you couldn't speak Fallen."

"I never said that." He admitted.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing. We're on patrol."

"Really? Just patrol? I-" Her voice rose and she held up an accusatory finger to him, but stopped mid-sentence. "Hold on. I have to take this." She lowered her head slightly and walked out of the operations building, leaving Koru alone among the dead. "Yes, what is it?" He heard her ask faintly.

Static, then Phoenix's voice. "Smooth, dude." He sounded far from genuine.

Koru paid it no mind. "You left one alive."

"We did? Roy swore he counted."

The warlock watched Eve pacing nervously outside. "Fallen squads are usually eight individuals."

Roy mumbled, "Is that more or less than five?"

"I guess that explains it. Hey," Phoenix stopped to listen carefully a moment. "Who's she talking to? Her boss? Her ex?"

"Not a clue. Could be her teammates." Koru suggested.

"I don't think so." Phoenix replied.

"Hey," Eve called out to him before he could respond, "Come here."

Koru left the building behind and stood face to face with her.

"All right, look. I don't know what's going on and you are definitely explaining yourself later, but right now I need your help." She spoke very evenly and plainly.

"Understood. What's going on? Who was that?"

"That was Ikora."

"The warlock vanguard called you personally?"

"Yes. She knew I was in the area and had an urgent assignment."

"Why not a patrol beacon?"

"That would attract too many guardians. And she needed someone she could trust."

"Does that mean you trust me?"

"It means that shit might go down and I might need backup. Are you in?"

"Of course."

"Good. Ikora said she caught very faint Vex signals from the south of our position."

"Vex? This close to the Tower? On Earth?"

"It's a delicate operation. She thinks it's being masked, like it's deep underground."

"Makes sense. Doesn't seem to be anything topside. We need to find a way down."

Eve looked to the southern horizon, bathed in shadow as much as light. "There," She pointed, "A large drainage pipe in the gully. It's our best shot. Let's move."

They made their way down the hill, each glancing around for the freed dreg out of curiosity, but saw nothing. At the bottom Koru asked, "It's not just a patrol date anymore, is it?"

She let herself smile. "No, I guess not. Now it's a mission."

"But it's still a date, right?" He asked a little too seriously.

Eve laughed softly but did not respond.


	4. Chapter 4

"Wow," Phoenix mused, "She has the warlock vanguard on speed dial. Sure you can handle this woman?"

"So," Eve said as they made their way through the winding crags, low runoff gullies and over boulders and river sheetrock. "Your turn. Tell me about your teammates. Fireteam Pluto, right? Huh." She paused a moment in thought. "I just got that."

Static, followed by Phoenix's voice in his ear. "Make me sound good. Like a hero."

Koru chuckled and took a second to think. "They're boisterous, obnoxious, uncultured and horrendously juvenile."

Phoenix muttered, "Okay, good start, now say it in words I actually know."

"Phoenix isn't exactly a hunter, but he acts like one. He always has something witty to say, which I suppose will help if I ever decide to write a book about us. And there's Commander Roy, who kills everything with extreme prejudice. A lot of people call him a meathead, but I think he might be a genius of simple mind sometimes."

"I see." Eve hopped down a shallow ridge.

"They," Koru exhaled in a sigh and took a deep breath. "They are a constant test of my patience. One can't read, the other can't spell, they both struggle with basic mathematics, and I never thought so much alcohol could be consumed safely by two people. But," He digressed, "they're also the most supportive people I've met. They accepted me as I was without a second thought-probably without a first one, either. And they always have my back, they're the most dependable and strong guardians in the Tower. If it wasn't for them, I never would have had the courage to talk to you, to be here right now."

"Wow." Eve remarked in a hushed tone. They were a stone's throw from the huge circular tunnel dug into the hill; she slowed down just a bit. "So, would you call them your friends?"

"Hmm." Koru looked up to the darkening fuschia sky as he mused. "I never really had friends before, but I'd say yes. They are my friends."

Phoenix chimed in again, "That's legit, man. Love you too."

Roy added, "Aww, he cares."

"Hey Roy, let's give them some privacy, yeah?" Phoenix suggested. "We'll check on you two lovebirds later. Mwah!" He made a fake kissing noise with his lips and with that, the two of them were silent in Koru's ears. Not even the static remained.

"Wait!" Koru called out too late. Eve turned to look at him, one boot already in the tunnel.

"For what?" She asked.

He looked from her to the tunnel entrance. It was concrete, dug directly into the hill. A small trickle of muddy water flowed lazily through it, soaking the dirt of the gully with damp sediment. "I meant wait for me. Do we have a plan?"

"Stay close, stay quiet, get in and get out." She replied simply.

"Fair enough." Koru took a careful step into the tunnel, offering her a hand to help. She brushed it away almost gently.

He led the way through the dark tunnel, keeping his left hand on the wall and his right on the grip of his hand cannon in its holster. They passed several intersections, some blocked off by thick, rusted steel gates and others by collapsed masonry that only water could squeeze through. Eve assured him they wanted to continue on straight ahead.

" _Hey, do you guys need a light_?" Dari asked, his voice barely a whisper. " _It's super dark in here._ "

"Hush. No light." Koru whispered back.

"Stop." Eve said in a low tone, more murmur than whisper. "Listen. Do you hear that?"

Koru stood stark still in the tunnel. At first he could only hear his own breath and, faintly beyond that, his own nervous heartbeat. Bit by bit the world came alive around him. Eve's soft breaths, calm and even. The slosh of water beneath his feet and coursing around fallen debris and their boots. From further in, an uneven echo rang and bounced along the walls.

"Definitely a voice." Koru confirmed. "But I don't know what they're saying. Let's get closer."

Eve nodded, a wasted effort in the pitch dark, and they continued with laboriously slow steps to avoid any unwanted noise. As the voice grew louder but no clearer it became certain that it was speaking an unfamiliar language. It seemed to be accompanied by a rhythmic creaking.

"Nash," Eve said to her ghost. "Can you translate?"

A short pause. Then, " _No, but I am recording just in case anyone in the Tower can._ "

"Good boy." She replied.

The tunnel ramped up sharply then. From their position at the bottom, bright white light fringed with pulses of ambient green shone on the ceiling from the room just ahead.

The two warlocks kept their bellies to the ground and their heads low as they crawled up the slope, just barely peering out to get a view.

They were overlooking what Koru assumed was the reservoir for the water runoff drainage system during the Golden Age. Now its high walls and wide basin, easily at least a hundred feet long, were long dry. A shining pillar of blindingly bright light constructed in a grid design and fashioned into an obelisk lit the room from the far end of the basin, forcing Koru to squint and begin tearing up at the sudden shock of such light after the walk in the dark. He could barely make out the silhouette of a humanoid pacing in front of the light; it never stopped speaking in its unknown language with a voice gravelly, coarse and commanding.

"Koru, look." Eve nodded downward ever so slightly.

Once his eyes had adjusted he followed her gaze. Pulsing like a sea of bones made of one living creature were dozens-maybe hundreds-of Hive acolytes and thrall bowed in reverence to the silhouetted figure. They all seemed to breathe in unison. The acolytes held up their weapons as if in offering. Further up he saw a score of knights bathed in the darkness extending from the ledge the speaker was stood upon.

Eve slid down out of sight of the horde below. "Holy shit, that's a lot of Hive. We need to report this, now."

Koru nodded in agreement and kept watching the scene below with rapt attention. It appeared the speaking figure was wearing a tattered coat. "Can you contact Ikora?"

"No, the comms aren't working here."

He clenched his jaw tight, eyes darting around the bowed hive as light bounced off their dirty brown carapaces. "We need to see what's going on. Stay, keep recording."

She looked up at him and knew he was right.

The Hive knights rose from their kneeling position as the speaker seemed to bring his speech to a close. Four flanked him from behind the pillar of light. Half of them made their rounds around the huge crowd of watching acolytes and thrall. One of the knights approached the man with a jagged, chitinous sword in hand.

"Eve," Koru looked over to her. "I think that person is a guardian. A warlock."

"That can't be right, what would he be doing talking to Hive? And with Vex tech?"

"I don't know, but-" he was cut off by the sickening crunch of bone cracking and splitting apart.

They looked back to see the sword-wielding knight kneeling, doubled over, clutching at its chest where its own sword had impaled it. The speaker stood over him victoriously, and the other knights took a step away from him before bowing again.

The figure reached out to the pillar and the light disappeared in an instant, leaving the room bathed in darkness and the pulsing green of many hundreds of Hive eyes. Once Koru's eyes adjusted again, the figure was standing perfectly still, staring straight up to the two warlocks in the round tunnel high above the room. His two mismatched eyes, one a dull yellow and the other a brilliant red, seemed to stare into Koru's own even through his helmet's opaque one-way visor.

When the figure spoke again, it was in their familiar language. "Rip the light from their ghosts."

With that order issued, he seemed to disappear in a sudden flash of pure darkness.

"Uhh," Koru started.

The Hive acolytes and thrall snapped up out of trance and began a mad scramble over each other to climb up the smooth concrete walls to reach the two warlocks.

"Run!" Eve shouted. She slid down the tunnel's slope and grabbed Koru's ankle to drag him along.


	5. Chapter 5

"Check the roots. I told you."

"Wow. Her hair really is naturally blue." Roy nodded with approval.

"Oh my God that's so hot." Phoenix nearly moaned out as he leaned back a little. "Okay, your turn."

The four guardians sat in a sunbathed rocky outcropping overlooking a deep canyon, complete with picturesque sunset, to the west and the Golden Age military outpost to the east, in a circle, laughing and smiling as they took turns asking questions and performing silly tasks.

"All right." Lilei tapped her finger on her chin. "Commander Roy, truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Roy responded with immediate enthusiasm.

"You always pick dare!" Lilei groaned.

"I ain't no bitch."

"Ugh, fine. Oz, do you have a good dare for him? I'm out."

Ozara looked Roy up and down. Even sitting in the dirt he was still a large and imposing man. "Arm wrestle me." She said simply.

A moment of silence passed and Phoenix broke it. "Ooh, shit! It's going down!"

Roy laughed. "Ha! All right, I'll try not to win too fast." He stood up and looked around for a bit, his gaze wandering over the landscape before he finally settled, staring at a nearly two foot tall, short, flat rock. "Perfect arena."

The group made their way the short distance to the makeshift table. Phoenix knelt down next to Roy to watch while Lilei stood and looked down with her arms crossed.

Ozara took a knee and propped her elbow up on the rock. "If I win, you have to answer a truth."

"What about when I win?" Roy asked with a grin.

She laughed a little but didn't respond. With their audience watching attentively the two titans locked hands and began their contest of strength. For a long time they both remained focused, putting their strength to the test against one another, though it looked like their arms were perfectly still-as if they had the same power. Then a spark of electricity jumped and sizzled in the air around Roy's fist, then another and another. Similarly, a deepening, swirling vortex of void energy coiled up and dissipated into the air above Ozara's. Eventually, Roy felt her grip tighten on his hand like a vise and he was too late to counter. Ozara edged him down far to the table, scant inches from defeat. She looked up at him struggling against her and pressed the advantage now, tapping his knuckles against the red-brown boulder lightly. She kept her grip firm until the other titan relented and acknowledged her victory.

Ozara threw her hands up with glee. "Woo! Good match, Roy!" She offered her palm up to him for a high-five.

Roy absently pressed his off-hand fist to her palm, then massaged his wrist and hand gently.

"Oh shit, Commander, what happened?" Phoenix asked with a gasp.

"Ah, my hand slipped." Roy muttered. "I want a rematch."

"After the truth. Where'd you get your pistol, there?" She asked without hesitation.

"Oh, this thingy?" Roy beamed with pride and drew his hand cannon, a gunmetal gray thing with sinister spikes lining the barrel, swooping up through the length of it and ending in protrusions near the hammer. Similar looking, thorny spikes extended from either end of the grip, as well. Its dot-sight glowed with a green, ethereal flame.

Phoenix smiled, shook his head, and summoned his gasmask-style black and forest green helmet from his ghost's storage. He fiddled with the radio inside for a moment. "I think I'll check on the kids." He clicked on the radio for everyone to hear.

"So there I was," Roy started, "Deep in the Hive caves on the moon, when all of a sudden-"

Roy was not cut off so much as muted by an ear-splitting scream from Phoenix's headset radio. The guardian shrieked and tossed his helmet down to cover his ears.

"JUST GO, I'LL COVER YOU!" Koru yelled.

Somewhat quieter in the background, but still obviously shouting, came Eve's reply: "With what?!"

Phoenix reached down and quickly turned down the volume on the radio, his ears still ringing painfully. He looked up to see that Lilei and Ozara already had their helmets on and were making their way down the hill toward the same drainage pipe that Koru and Eve had entered. He saw Roy taking several mighty swigs from a flask with a masking tape label that read 'vodka'. Phoenix hurried to put on his own helmet.

"Leave it to Eve to get in trouble." Lilei laughed. "Come on, let's go save her and her boyfriend."

Ozara nodded and called back over her shoulder as she summoned and mounted her Sparrow vehicle. It was black and dusty just like her bulky, heavy armor. "Sorry, guess we'll have to rematch later!" She gave a wave and followed Lilei, who had already gone.

Phoenix and Roy each summoned up their own Sparrows, a racing blue and white and gold, respectively. "Good. She's really fuckin' strong." Roy grumbled, flexing his sore hand in obvious discomfort.

-

The screams were of frenzied, unrelenting hunger made real.

The warlocks ran through the damp drainage pipe where they had once crept with utmost care, their boots splashing up water and every footfall echoing like a thunderclap through the tunnel.

Eve was just ahead of him.

Hive thrall were scrambling after, just on his heels.

He could see the dying light of day at the end of the tunnel. But it seemed forever away.

Without stopping Koru Sen looked behind him. The thrall clawed madly at him just out of reach, but they were gaining slowly and surely. Their rotten maws snapped together, desperately trying to rip him apart.

"Koru?" Eve called back when she noticed him lagging behind. "Come on!"

"Just go! I'll cover you!" He yelled back. He extended his left arm back, recoiling a bit when a thrall nearly took a finger in its teeth. Still, he spun it around in a quick arc, watching the walls glow with a pattern of geometric symbols a dull orange like embers where he did.

"With what?!" She demanded.

He closed his hand into a fist and watched with satisfaction as the lines of symbols flared and exploded into a sudden spiral of flames that filled the entire tunnel's width where he had placed it, incinerating the trapped thrall behind him on contact. As thrall ran and were pushed on by their comrades they too were burned to death until the Hive were forced to retreat back and search for a new approach.

Koru smirked and ran full speed again, not far behind Eve. "With that."

Eve breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the pace. They were almost out. When she took her first step into the night of the steppes she assessed the surrounding area quickly. "Shit." She groaned as she saw the glint of glass on a hill directly ahead. "Sniper! Get down!" She yelled and dove to the side, quickly scrambling behind an upturned river rock in an effort to find cover.

Koru barely even had time to notice it.

But the shot never came. Instead, a familiar voice came on over their headsets and from straight ahead. "Thought you guys could use a hand."

Eve bolted to her feet. "Lily!"

A faint glint of gold raised up and shimmered in the night above the sniper rifle's scope as the hunter of Fireteam Hades offered a wave in greeting. "That's my name, babe. Mind saying it again, only sexier?"

"Is Oz here too?" Eve asked without bothering to reprimand Lilei.

"Of course." Ozara replied, rounding around the opening of the drainage pipe from the other side. She hefted her trusty, somewhat rusty junker of a shotgun up and gave it a loving pat on its hand-action pump. "Brought some backup, too." She nodded up above the pipe to where Phoenix and Roy stood, pistols drawn. Even in the twilight Phoenix's hand cannon gleamed and the intricate feather engravings on the barrel shone silver.

"Okay," Roy said, "Who was who on the radio? I couldn't tell just now."

Eve frowned. "Is my voice really that deep?"

"No, not really." Roy replied.

"Guys," Koru spoke sullenly as he looked over his shoulder. A thrall screeched and leapt from the darkness, clawing madly for his face with its bony, green-tipped claws. He held out his hand and slammed his open palm into its upper jaw. He felt the bones push back and recede into the skull before it exploded in a pile of dust and ash, carried off by the breeze almost peacefully. He yelled, "Hive!"

The guardians were pushed back from the pipe and into the ravine, caught between somewhat steep banks on either side as they faced the horde. The Hive thrall spilled out in droves, clawing and climbing over each other in a sickening display of ravenous hunger. Their screams and cries echoed through the night.

Koru drew his own pistol, a simple silver thing with red sights. He fired into every target that came his way, sending thunderous booms bouncing through the ravine and the canyon beyond, its explosive rounds tearing through the fragile thrall.

Eve unloaded a hail of bullets from her assault rifle into the mass of bodies coming at them, dodging swipes from thralls' claws and returning them with stabs and slashes from the bayonet of her rifle.

Phoenix blew thrall away with swift shots from his pistol, but found himself back to back with Commander Roy, perched precariously atop the small hill above the pipe entrance. All around them swirled the massive crush of bodies below.

Ozara-4 punched, gun-butted and blasted away at least a dozen of the horrid creatures as they swarmed all over, clawing madly at her armor but repelled back with extreme force by her shield barrier.

Roy laughed as he fired burning green bullets into the thrall, the shots piercing through several at a time. Those affected fell to their knees in agony as the poison spread and ended their wretched unlife.

Lilei did her best to provide overwatch for her allies by picking off the waiting acolytes as best she could, but found herself flanked by two of them firing shots of purple plasma. Thinking quickly she rolled out of harm's way, a few of the shots clipping her and absorbed by her energy shield. She slid down the riverbank and into the fray, turning around and taking a quick, pinpoint accurate shot at one of the acolytes and blowing its head apart with a horrible squelching noise. She kept to the edge of the massive crowd of thrall and instead picked off a few more acolytes as she darted from cover to cover.

But the Hive were numerous.

There were so many.

And they kept coming.

The guardians found themselves surrounded.

"Where are they coming from?!" Koru shouted over the sounds of battle surrounding him.

Koru fired his last round into an acolyte's skull, the resulting explosion taking out a few nearby thrall, sending them flying in a flurry of severed limbs from the blast. He swept his free hand out in a circle all around him, laying a rune down on the ground. He activated it and a wall of fire sprang up between him and the horde, buying valuable time. He reloaded his hand cannon and stowed it, now drawing his sniper rifle. He glanced down to the display-it was bright green. He fired through the flames into a crowd of thrall around Eve; its explosive round rocked several, and the additional gout of red-hot flames sent even more reeling away from the flash of light and heat, clearing a handful of the abominations. With every subsequent shot he took he counted down. "Four, three, two…"

Eve shielded her eyes from the fiery blast of Koru's sniper round. She wheeled around when her rifle was empty, quickly swapping it out for her fusion rifle. She held down the trigger to kickstart the charge cycle before she even had a target in mind. Luckily when she stopped she found one: a particularly ballsy acolyte that had waded into the thick of the battle to try and take glory. Instead, it found seven fully arc-light charged projectiles slamming into and through its body, ripping it apart before disintegrating it.

Phoenix side-stepped an eager claw and blew that thrall's head off without a second thought. He yelled out, "Going up!" And bent low at the knees before jumping up, propelled through the air by jets of fire from his boots and kept aloft by the huge burning wings sprouting from his back in a dazzling display of orange and yellow light. He hovered and assessed the situation, deftly dodging the few shots fired at him by acolytes and making sure to take out a few of the worst offenders. From further up the hills and down into the gully the Hive were crawling out of holes in the earth to join the fight. "There's caves all over!" He called down to his friends wading through a sea of chitin, green eyes and death. "They're pouring out from everywhere!" He moved through the air and took a few more shots as he landed in a more strategic location in the middle of the madness.

A deep guttural cry pierced the night. Soon a dozen others joined in. The swarm of thrall and acolytes parted to let two knights brandishing jagged chitinous swords join the battle. Other knights took positions above them on the riverbanks to rain down fire from their arm-mounted boomer cannons.

Ozara took a few scrambling steps backward as a knight rushed her and slashed at her with its sword. She turned on her heel and leapt up into the air propelled by the standard thrust boosters of the titan arsenal. A boomer knight saw her approach and took aim. She raised her free left arm and her ghost materialized a Cabal Phalanx shield in her grasp just as a purple blast of plasma erupted against it from the knight's cannon. Ozara activated her back-mounted thruster pack and used her incredible forward momentum to slam the shield into the knight's face. She smiled at the satisfying crunch of bone and swung her shield around to the left side. A point-blank shot of lead from her shotgun finished the dazed and confused knight easily.

Roy saw Ozara jump away and followed her lead. He ran from the thinning horde of Hive in the gully and jumped up the steep bank, stowing his pistol and approaching a startled boomer knight bare handed. He rushed and slammed his knee into the knight's chest, caving it in with a massive and resounding thunderclap. He planted his boot in its newly formed chest cavity and quickly seized the knight's arm cannon and ripped it free, taking its arm with it. The arm and stump oozed a thick black liquid that burned into the air and floated off like smoke. The knight howled in pain, thrashing about on the ground and trying to attack him with its other arm in vain. As Roy took the sharp end of its cannon and slammed it into the knight's big center eye, it yowled and struggled madly until he found the trigger and pulled, watching its head blown apart and melted by its own weapon in a flash of light and viscera.

Lilei vaulted over an acolyte, stabbed it swiftly in its throat making sure to dig the knife in deep, and activated her stealth cloak. A shimmer surrounded her and reflected light through her as if she weren't even there. When she touched down on the ground again she was glad to see the enemy confused and unaware of her presence. She scrambled up the loose rocks and gravel of the riverbank and set up near Ozara, opposite the side Roy ran up. She leveled her sniper rifle at the knights and lined up her shots. She fired, sending high-powered void-charged projectiles into two boomer knight's thick skulls, blowing their brains-or something that looked a lot like them-out of the back of their heads. They fell over dead in crumpled heaps of useless, bony armor. She took a deep breath and reloaded her weapon.

Koru managed to take out two boomer knights with well-placed sniper shots before his ring of fire dissipated. He frowned as the other six boomer knights were smart enough to raise their impenetrable shields made of pure darkness.

The unmistakable hum and whir of ship engines roared above the fight. Koru looked up to see a Fallen skiff come in hot, hovering over the scene of the battle. Its bomb door opened, threatening to blow the entire gully away. But after a tense moment, no shock bombs dropped and the door closed again as if thinking better of the situation. Some of the boomer knights let their shields drop and instinctively fired on the ship, but the blasts of plasma barely dented the sturdy hull of the dirty brown cargo vehicle. The main turret of the ship rotated and fired a single explosive blast at each of the knights, blowing them away with ease. The ship moved to hover over the ridge that Commander Roy was positioned on. The warlock watched as the Fallen dropped from the ship in handfuls at a time. By the time they had all touched down, the ship had dispatched the last of the boomer knights, and was gone, many of them had scattered to various corners of the battlefield. In total, Koru counted four captains and a dozen vandals, all of them wearing bright violet cloaks.

"Fallen!" Eve shouted as she drew her solar-charged sword with her main hand and prepared an axion bolt for the newcomers with her free hand. All around her the remaining acolytes backed away, forming a circle around her and growing eerily quiet, no longer shrieking and chittering madly, but swaying slightly all together and watching with rapt attention. One of the sword knights pushed its way through the ring of underlings and bellowed as it rushed in to attack Eve.

The other members of Fireteam Hades heard Eve and saw the Fallen skiff dropping off soldiers near Roy. Lilei crouched and took aim from across the way.

"Wait!" Koru called out. "Don't shoot them!"

"Why not?" Lilei asked, keeping her crosshairs on the biggest captain. While all the other Fallen scattered throughout the battlefield, this one very calmly approached Commander Roy. Even though it stood taller than him, it still bowed low when it was within arm's reach and growled a short sentence. Roy patted it on the helmet and it scurried off to join its comrades in the field. Lilei stared with her mouth agape. "What… What did it say?"

Roy shrugged. "I don't know." He summoned his ghost, whispered something, and then summoned and hefted what looked to be two light machine guns duct-taped together. "Nice guy, though."

A pair of vandals wound their way around the circle of acolytes and placed laser mines in the drainage pipes in a complex criss-cross of superheated death to cut off further Hive from crawling out of it. All around vandals and captains were doing the same to other cave mouths where some Hive still trickled out.

Koru yelled, "Those Fallen are on our side! They're securing the perimeter!"

Ozara responded, "Why are they the good guys?" she asked with palpable doubt.

"It's the House of Spirits! Commander Roy is their kell!" Koru took a few shots at the ring of acolytes around Eve and the knight as they dueled.

"Dude." Eve said as she threw the charged axion bolt at the knight instead. A ring of purple emanated around it and it found its target. Three seeking bolts of void energy followed the knight and exploded on contact with it, sending it pitching forward on shaky legs as they blew holes into its carapace. "Kell? What the fuck." It was less of a question than a genuine statement of surprise.

Phoenix chimed in, "Yeah. Long story. We'll fill you in later." He drew his two shock swords. The second sword knight of the Hive approached him. The acolytes backed off from him and formed a ring just like they had done with Eve.

Two dueling arenas had been created in the riverbed now. The Hive acolytes bobbed in unearthly unison as they watched their knights' challenges be met by the guardians' blades.

Eve brought her sword up to parry the knight's slash. Metal sparked against bone. She pushed it back and went for a counterattack, but the knight danced away. It flicked its wrist to realign its blade and came in for a heavy downward strike aiming to cleave her skull in two. Eve quickly brought up her sword and blocked the strike with the flat of her blade. She twisted her grip on the sword to catch the knight's edge in the serrated teeth on the spine of her own blade, and pulled hard to strain his weapon. With a snap like breaking bone the knight's sword broke in half and he stumbled forward. Eve followed through by lowering her blade and slicing up and to the right in a quick motion, cutting the air itself and tearing the knight in two with ease.

Phoenix nimbly side-stepped a powerful swing from the knight, then boosted around to its blindside using his propelling jets of flame. He leapt at his opponent and spun rapidly with his blades extended and wreathing himself in red-hot fire. He slashed at the knight's back with a dizzying flash of razor-sharp swords that crackled with electricity and left burns in the flesh and heat streaks in the air, a flurry of attacks in the visage of an infernal tornado.

The knight grunted and fell to its knees.

Phoenix came out of his attack and stumbled around on unsteady feet, his head spinning was bad enough but it felt like it was spinning a completely different direction from the rest of his body. Several times he nearly bumped into an acolyte, and he found himself leaning on the kneeling knight.

It roared in fury. With one swift motion it rose to its feet and turned, knocking Phoenix away with its free arm. Phoenix was thrown back but kept his feet under him. The knight stepped forward, dragging its blade across the ground before taking a powerful underhanded swing at him.

Still not entirely sure of his senses, Phoenix took a too-big step to the right and almost fell over. Panicking, he slashed with both swords in an X across his chest. He blinked and when the world felt more properly readjusted he saw that he had cut both the knight's arms, severing them cleanly: the sword arm at the wrist, and the off arm through the bicep. The knight gurgled and roared again, louder, and rushed Phoenix, waving its stumps pathetically at him. Phoenix skewered it through its center eye with one of his swords and turned to the side, kicking it in the back of the knee to send it toppling backward, landing on its back with a crash. The guardian gripped the shock sword and activated a last jolt of electricity to send through the knight's broken body. It died in a convulsing, pitiful heap.

All around Eve and Phoenix, Roy and Ozara mowed down the statue-still acolytes with their machine guns while Koru and Lilei picked off the stragglers with ease.

As the calm settled on the battlefield, the six guardians lowered their weapons and looked around. All was quiet. Silent, even. They all looked at each other in turn, all tired but no worse for wear.

"Wow." Eve sighed and smiled, pressing her hand to her pounding heart. She listened to her rapid breaths. She always liked this moment of victory, just before the adrenaline dropped again.

"Was that fun enough?" Koru asked as he approached her, his own breath was shallow and somewhat uneven.

"Yeah." She nodded and took a deep breath. "Just, like, wow. That was great!"

A piercing shriek and a guttural, feral cry of anguish and rage cut through the silence of peace from the south. The earth itself seemed to tremble underfoot.

The big Fallen captain came sailing through the air and slammed against a boulder in the ravine with a sickening crunch, and collapsed on the ground in a motionless heap of limbs bent at wrong angles. Two Fallen vandals came running, firing their shock rifles as they backpedaled into the gully and nearly tripping on their commanding officer's broken body.

The bolts of electricity did nothing to deter the rumbling, shambling, scrambling approach of the two giant ogres, abominations of flesh that stood towering over their enemies. The ogres each roared in frustrated anger as the vandals easily dodged their massive, clumsy hands. Almost in unison the monsters opened their single bulbous eyes and blasted the smaller Fallen away with a look.

Flanking the two ogres were two wizards, tattered brown robes flowing as they floated on the wind, constantly chanting in their foul language new wretched spells. A faint glimmer of red surrounded them as they approached the guardians with arms raised, electricity brewing small storms between their outstretched fingers.

Roy looked down into the ravine at the approaching threats. "Phoenix!"

Eve looked up the gentle slope, then spotted her teammate above her. "Ozara!"

They shouted in unison now: "Up!"

The wizards spread out first as the ogres lumbered slowly through the ravine, batting at things with clumsy but powerful limbs, their chains rattling against the ground.

Eve jumped up and activated her glide to clear the gap to the top of the steep bank. The first ogre seemed to hear her and turned, opening its eyes and howling in pain and fury to shoot her down. Before it could realign its rapid fire ocular laser, however, Koru shot a few bullets from his pistol into its horrendous, pustule-ridden face to distract it.

Phoenix flew directly at another ogre. Just as it opened its mouth to bite down and before it could open its eye to tear him apart in a blast of violet energy, he somersaulted in the air and planted both of his boots on its face, squishing down into and even popping one of the many swollen sores on its eyelids as he pushed off and blasted it in the eye with his fiery jets. Using this momentum and distraction he wove through the wizard's clouds of poison to Commander Roy's position on the hill.

Koru grinned and holstered his hand cannon. He sprinted forward at one of the wizards while it was distracted by the flying guardians. It turned and focused its electric volley of plasma his way, but he was barely one step ahead of the barrage; a few stray shots clipped his shoulders and were absorbed by his shields-but he knew he couldn't rely on that for long. He held both hands up and focused, placing glowing runes on the wizard in front of him and further off on the one across the ravine focused on his teammates. He side-stepped around the wizard and when it reached out with its razor sharp claws he jumped back out of harm's way, carried by his glide.

He turned midair and placed another rune on the ogre a stone's throw from him. The giant lumbered and took a swipe with a meaty hand, but Koru checked it with both hands and pushed himself up and over the strike, then fell and darted around it to the side.

The last target, the final ogre, roared and opened its eye with a pain-filled groan even as Koru placed his final rune on its mauled and hideous face. He tried to dive out of the way of the ocular blast then, and felt a dozen or more of the deadly bolts tear into his back and rip his shields from him. A few dug into his boots and the bottom of his pristine white coat.

Koru got on his hands and knees and looked up at the massive ogre towering above him. It seemed to sniff the air before pounding both hands on the ground to either side of him. He was halfway up and about to run when the ogre swept its hand to the side and took him with it, sending him careening through the air and landing slumped against the wall of the ravine.

He cried out in sharp pain and took a deep, seething breath before screaming.

Phoenix grabbed Roy under the titan's arms and jumped, flying almost straight up like a rocket into the night sky.

Eve planted a boot on Ozara's phalanx shield and the exo raised it up over her head. Ozara jumped up, using her standard thrust and then using her back-mounted thruster to give a little more, giving Eve a springboard to jump up high with. The warlock jumped up and stayed aloft using her glide.

Ozara fell to the earth again, slid down the steep bank next to Koru, and saw him slumped against the ground but still awake. "Are you okay?" She asked but received no answer except a glance from his golden, fiery eyes.

Koru held out both hands and balled them into fists, watching as the runes flared and huge gouts of flame erupted from them, sending both wizards and ogres into a panicked frenzy as their skin and bones roasted, the wizards now lost their shimmering shield. He yelled out to the ridge above, "Lily!"

The Hive creatures shrieked and batted themselves in vain to snuff out the light-charged flames.

"That's high enough." Roy patted Phoenix on the arm and looked down, watching as Koru set the Hive alight and Eve took a moment hovering in the air. He decided to shoot for the farther ogre as it rampaged around further down the ravine. From a hundred feet up it would be easy to do so.

Eve closed her eyes and focused her mind. The ogre in front and beneath her howled in fury, pounding the ground and sending optic blasts in every random direction as it screamed in further pain and agony. "Embrace the void." She whispered as she gathered her stored and collected energy from the abyss in her outstretched hand.

Ozara pulled the huge Cabal shield over both her and Koru as the others prepared their final strikes.

Lilei watched the wizards panic and fly in frantic circles. She reached to her belt and drew a sticky flux grenade, charging it and tossing it almost nonchalantly at the nearer wizard. She watched as it took hold on its chest and the confused thing tried to shake and pull it off. In a flash of electric light it exploded and took the wizard with it from the waist up.

The second wizard was farther and recovering from its explosion into flame, screaming and wheeling around in the air for a target, but found none. Instead it found only Lilei and raised its arms threateningly, fingers twitching as it fired a barrage of blue electric bolts at her. Lilei smirked and drew the knives from her forearm sheathes, throwing them in rapid succession in a high arc above their target's blast range, their razor edges cutting the air and their tips finding their mark buried deep in the throat and chest of the wizard. With a choking cry the horrid thing slumped and fell to the ground, dissipating into thick black smoke upon death.

"Comin' in hot!" Roy yelled as Phoenix dropped him.

Eve opened her eyes. "Empty."

Roy's entire body now crackled with arc energy and built in intensity as he fell to the earth, adjusting his path to take aim at the further ogre and angling into a streamlined dive, head lowered and arm outstretched. He descended to the earth like a comet-complete with blue trail streaking behind him, bolts of electricity cracking and burning the air in every direction. He slammed into the ogre head-first an instant after beginning his free fall, tearing a massive gaping hole in the wall of agonized flesh and muscle. Roy came to a screeching halt and pounded the ground at the ogre's feet with his fist to discharge his remaining energy, sending huge bolts of lightning booming up and into the air to fry the ogre. It died quickly and fell over in a heap behind the titan.

Eve set her sights on the second ogre, the last enemy. She reached out with her palm open and released her pent-up void energy in a concentrated beam of violet light the diameter of her palm that raced through the air and cut through the ogre's flesh with ease, firing it directly into the back of its screaming maw. She kept up a continuous blast as the beam sliced through the abomination's thick flesh and bones, as much a scalpel as a laser. She carved up and sliced its head clean open before her energy ran out and she was left with a trickle of that stored power left. The radiating power of her nova laser crept into the edges of the wounds she had made in the ogre. As she fell to the earth and landed softly, the remains of the beast slumped against each other and fell to the ground while glowing a brilliant violet and exploding as it was overcome by a chain reaction of subatomic explosions. When the dust was cleared, there was nothing left of that ogre.

Roy and Eve stood up on shaky legs, giving each other a nod of understanding as they seemed to struggle to stand up straight.

Ozara pulled the shield away from her and stood up. She held a hand out to help Koru to his feet and he took it gratefully.

Phoenix landed and his fiery wings seemed to fold into his back before going out. "Holy shit you guys, that was bad ass!"

Lilei slid down the bank and kicked at Koru's ankle lightly. "It's Lilei to you."

Silence almost overcame them, but Koru burst into laughter and the others followed suit happily.

"Ha, so, just a few routine jobs?" Koru said as he checked himself for injuries, patting his torso and legs down. He was sore, and his back was killing him, but he didn't think anything was seriously broken. Even if it was, it was a relatively quick process to heal via ghost atomic reconstruction.

"Yeah, well I guess it was more exciting than I thought." Eve admitted as she dusted her coat off.

Phoenix slid in between them and rested his arms across both their shoulders, turning to each of them as he spoke. "Let's get you kids home. It's past curfew."

The rumbling roar of engines came back as the House of Spirits skiff returned to the ravine, hovering low on the south side ridge and extending its back area for re-entry. The guardians watched as vandals and captains crawled out from caves and the pipe system, paying no mind to the weary warriors in the ravine. Two of the smaller captains carried the Fallen captain that had slammed against the rocks arm-under-arm to the skiff; though the captain was unconscious, he looked alive.

Koru spotted the House of Kings dreg that he had spared approach slowly, warily. It appeared to speak with one of the captains and bowed in beseechment. After a tense moment of watching the captains and vandals board the skiff, it followed and was the last on board. It gave a slight nod of acknowledgement to Koru before the skiff closed its bay doors and lifted off into the sky again, to rest and recover from battle.

And with that the Fallen were gone.

"Yes." Koru nodded in agreement and patted Phoenix on the back. "They had the right idea. Let's get out of here."


	6. Chapter 6

The vanguard stood in solemn silence around their large war table in the office as the recording from Eve's ghost, Nash, played. Ikora Rey stood with arms crossed, her head bowed slightly as her light eyes seemed to search for answers beyond the material world. Cayde-6 stood pacing back and forth, shaking his head beneath his hood and tapping the charred and burned mask of the former Speaker on his belt. Zavala remained in the back, poring over his war table and moving depicted units across its face, clenching his squared jaw and listening intently despite the task at hand.

"'Rip the light from their ghosts.'" Came the chilling end of the unknown man's speech to the Hive.

Eve clicked off the recording. "Sorry, after that it's just a lot of screaming."

Nash, a dull green ghost with a bright white eye, disappeared into Eve's outstretched hand.

The six guardians of Fireteams Pluto and Hades stood anxiously waiting for a reply. Eve and Koru were up front to deliver the debriefing.

Ikora looked up to her warlocks and met their eyes, lingering on Eve's gaze for a time. She steeled herself. "The vanguard thanks you for your efforts." She said coldly. "You are dismissed."

Koru and Eve shared a concerned look.

"That's it?" Eve asked.

Cayde stepped forward and patted Ikora on the shoulder while he looked to the young guardians. "Hey, forgive her, all right? She's cranky because it's late and she hasn't had a juice box for a few hours."

Ikora gave him a look that could melt steel.

"What she means to say is, thanks for your hard work out there, kids. As Speaker, I'd like to formally and personally congratulate you all on your accomplishments, your service to the city, and to the light, and the Tower, and all the citizens, and… man, I don't remember the last Speaker talking so much. Anyway, good job kids, I'll keep you updated if anything comes out of this." Cayde mock-coughed and cleared his throat, tapped on his chest, and stood still.

The other guardians shrugged and began walking away, but Koru and Eve stayed.

Cayde called out to them as they left. "Hey, Lily, Fifi!" When Lilei and Phoenix turned to look over their shoulders he continued, "Great work guys, keep makin' Papa proud."

The vanguard's charges nodded, and Phoenix added a thumbs-up with a grin.

"Cayde." Zavala called from the back with his deep and commanding voice. "You know you cannot divulge information freely. If they are assigned the task-"

"Hush, Zavala." Cayde raised up a hand to silence the titan vanguard. "The Spoken has speakered." He paused, then, "Wait, I messed that up. Can I get a do-over? Ah, screw it."

Eve broke the vanguards' bickering. "What are we supposed to do? Nothing? You heard the record and our reports. There's someone out there using Vex technology and giving orders to Hive legions. An exo, we think. Maybe even a warlock. And we're supposed to do what?"

"Wait for further instruction." Ikora responded.

"What if further instruction never comes, but he does?" Eve demanded.

"Then fight, like always."

Cayde stepped between the two warlocks and calmly took Eve by the shoulders, leading her a few steps away from Ikora. "Whoa, calm down there, little bird. No reason to get all puffed up. This is a really fragile situation and we need to know what's going on before we do anything, all right?" He patted her on the head and mussed her brown locks a little. "Now, Ikora, you say something nice to them before they leave."

Ikora closed her eyes and stepped forward. "I apologize for being so short with you. The day has been long and this information is staggering. Regardless, I knew you were in the area and thought a reconnaissance mission would not cause so much trouble. Considering how it turned out, I am glad you were not alone," She looked to Koru and smiled wanly, "for whatever reason. Now go. You are dismissed." This time when she gave the order she smiled and patted Eve on the shoulder gently.

"Yes." Zavala piped up from the back very matter-of-factly. He stood up tall and straight. "Go and enjoy the rest of your evening. I think you've earned it."

Cayde chuckled and deepened his voice to his best Zavala impression, "And that's an order." He shook his head and stepped forward to usher the two warlocks up the stairs and out of the office. "Now you kids go have fun. Mommy and daddy and other mommy have to talk business right now."

He stood in the wide archway connected to the hall, watching as the two warlocks met with their friends in the lounge across from Lord Shaxx's usual station-though the Crucible handler was long gone tonight. He overheard their conversation.

Roy called out, "Hey, get your civvies, girls."

Lilei nodded and cocked her head back a little bit toward the stairs to the main Tower plaza. "Phoenix says he knows a nice place. We're thinking we deserve a nice dinner." Then she added with a wink, "I know you like to eat."

Eve rolled her eyes and joined the group as they walked out the door. Before they left, Cayde overhead one last snippet:

"Do you actually know a place?" Koru asked Phoenix in a hushed whisper.

"I was hoping Skye could help me out on that one. Anything, yet?" He asked the last question seemingly to no one, but around these parts it was normal to talk to a ghost that way.

The Speaker watched them go up the stairs and made sure no other appointments were on the way, then turned and stepped back into the headquarters he shared with Ikora and Zavala.

Cayde addressed the worker frames at various stations and terminals around the room. "Total blackout. Office goes dark, and get out of here ASAP. Nothing for the next hour goes on record. Last one out, lock the door and don't let it hit you on the way out. Understood?"

Each of the frames stopped in their task and stood bolt-upright, replying in unison with an eerie chorus, "Understood."

"Hop to it." Cayde stepped down the stairs and rejoined the vanguard. He walked over to the bookshelf and knelt down, running his metal finger over the spine of a thick hardcover tome. "Hey, so, Eve and Koru, are they like, a thing?"

"What does that even mean?" Zavala asked as he came around the opposite end of the table, holding his forehead with his hand.

Instead of replying, Cayde simply raised his hands up over his head and made a circle out of his thumb and forefinger with his left while he used his right index finger to slide in and out of the hole suggestively.

"Can we focus?" Ikora asked as the last frame walked out of the room and locked the huge sliding metal doors that were usually hidden from most people's views.

"Sure, just killing time. Don't think that boy really knows that to do with a hole." Cayde sighed and sat on the edge of the long war table.

"How long has it been?" Ikora asked, clearly not amused by Cayde's antics.

"Seventeen months." Zavala answered simply, massaging his temples.

Ikora stood once more with her arms crossed and staring down into the floor. This time, however, she barely breathed. Her stillness was worrisome.

"Are we certain it's him?" Zavala asked.

"The voices match almost perfectly in the database." She replied.

"Almost?"

"More than a year alone out there, in total isolation, can change a person. I'm proof of that, but it isn't always for the better. Besides. My warlocks reported that he was male, an exo, and had a yellow eye. And he wore robes similar to a warlock's."

"Any crazy guy can put on a dress, Ikora." Cayde offered in vain.

"But not any madman can command a Hive legion." She pondered in deep thought for a moment. "It's a routine patrol zone with scarce Darkness activity. He couldn't have been there long, and he had an army to back him up. No, that was not an accident." She at last looked up, taking in Zavala and Cayde for the first time in what seemed like ages. "Judas is at our back door."

Zavala lowered his hands and kept them at his side. "We exiled him. If he's managed to figure out Vex tech and to ally with the Hive, I fear what horrors he could unleash if we sit on this. Cayde, I'll need you to put together a recon team. Ikora, get your best people on researching ties between the Vex and Hive and get me a translation of that speech of his."

Cayde stifled a laugh. "You know, I voted for the death penalty at first. Silly me to have a conscience, right? Anyway, you want some of my guys to crawl through the obviously Hive-infested sewers on the trail of a rogue guardian who we know can avoid our detection until he wants to be found, can apparently talk to the aforementioned Darkness-worshipping space-bugs, and who can teleport. Am I getting that right?"

Zavala bit back a sharp retort. "Yes." He settled for simplicity.

Cayde nodded, pressing his palms together and making a steeple out of his fingers. "Well, I don't know who died and made you Speaker. It wasn't me, by the way." He added smugly. "But if you want a recon team, I'll get you one. But I can't be held responsible for their well-being, or yours, if something happens to them. However, in return I'm going to need you to get as many guns into as many hands as possible. And have your boys reinforce the wall. I have a bad feeling about this."

Ikora asked, "What are you expecting, Cayde?"

"The worst. Judas has every reason to hate us and want revenge, and he seems to have the means to do it. But don't worry, if he attacks the City I'm prepping a secret weapon to stop him. Just need to take it for a test run." He laughed coyly.

Ikora and Zavala shared a nervous glance. "What does that mean?"

"Well," He looked up as if day dreaming. "Let's just say Fireteam Pluto has a court date next week."

"Cayde, you are not sending Phoenix to fight our battles for us." Ikora reprimanded him.

"Oh, come on!" Cayde held his arms up in exaggerated frustration. "What's the point of having a prophesized 'chosen one' if you can't use him to do cool stuff?"

-

"You know," Phoenix fumbled with the zipper to his hoodie and pulled it up as they emerged back into the night after dinner, "Aside from the aliens and the robot girl,"

"Hey." Koru interrupted. "We are not aliens." He turned to Lilei, "You aren't an alien, correct?"

Lilei looked down to give him a sly look. "I don't have to answer that."

"And I'm not a robot!" Ozara nearly shouted. "I'm a synthetic humanoid complete with a full range of all qualities of sentience."

"We know, honey. We know." Lilei patted Oz on the shoulder reassuringly and a touch patronizingly.

"And a giant," Phoenix continued as if not hearing them.

They looked up to Roy, who stood taller than all of them by almost a foot.

"What? He's not wrong." He shrugged.

"I'd say we looked pretty normal." Phoenix finished. "Just a couple friends out on the town."

"Yeah," Eve agreed, straightening her medium-length brown hair absently. "We only got a few dozen weird looks from people."

"Those kids wanted your autograph, though. That was pretty cool." Phoenix said.

Roy stretched one arm across his wide chest. "So guys, who's up for some clubbin'? It's early still."

Lilei looked down to her short, low-cut black dress and matching matte strappy heels, and shrugged. "Sure. I'm already dressed for it."

Ozara looked up to Roy quizzically and inspected her own outfit, a simple collared shirt and slacks with boots. "Clubbing?"

"Dancing. At a club." Roy explained.

"Oh, like the waltz?" Ozara's bright blue eyes seemed to glow more vividly.

Lilei smirked and covered her mouth demurely when she laughed. "A little more," She paused, searching for the word. "Casual, dear."

"Oh." Ozara nodded in understanding. "Like the Charleston."

Roy burst out laughing and Lilei shook her head with a smile.

"What?" Oz asked. It was a genuine question.

Phoenix turned to Eve and Koru, "So, what do you guys say? You down?"

Eve answered. "It's been a long day. Think I'll go home and have a night in."

Phoenix pursed his lips and nodded, then nudged Koru in the side lightly, shifting his gaze between one warlock and the other. "How about you, buddy?"

It took Koru a moment before he picked up on the hint. He blurted out, "Oh, I'll come with you. Uhm, I mean, me too. I'll walk with you. To the Tower."

"Why?" Eve asked with a playful smirk.

"To," he paused, "To make sure you're safe?" He hoped it was good enough.

"I can take care of myself." She said. Nonetheless, she slipped her arm through his and began to lead him away. They saw the Tower's base not far ahead. They waved back to their friends and the groups split up in the middle of the Last City's entertainment district.

"So, how did you feel about today?" Koru asked tentatively.

"Well," Eve said, looking up to the Tower, its apex cutting through the clouds and extending far above and beyond. "With all the awkward questions, crazy circumstances, and the fighting, I'd say it was exciting. And a very good first date." She slipped her hand into his and squeezed softly. "Where did your teammates come from, though?"

"They shadowed us to make sure we weren't ambushed. They were the ones who took out the Fallen at the outpost."

"Gold medal there, then."

They crossed a street hurriedly and continued on, working their way closer to the edge of the Last City with every step.

"What about your team?" He asked.

Eve shrugged. "I didn't even know they tailed us. Guess they were doing the same thing, they just didn't tell me. But I'm glad they did. Not sure how we'd have done against those Hive. And I'm glad you asked me out, too, otherwise I might not be here now."

"Is that the only reason?" He teased with a smile.

"Koru." Her voice dropped to a softer tone. "Doesn't it scare you? There's a guardian out there who turned to the Darkness and he has Hive taking orders. And he saw us. Spoke to us. He's out there and not even the vanguard knows what to do."

"Of course it scares me." He bowed his head a little, watching the sidewalk pass by beneath their shoes. "I'm terrified. But that's why we have to fight. Look around us." He did so, taking in the brick buildings and cacophony of somewhat unfamiliar, but pleasant sounds of life being lived all around. "Because we don't fight for the Light, or the Tower, or the Vanguard. We fight to keep living, and sometimes that means we have to give up our lives so these people can go on with theirs. That doesn't mean I'm not scared of dying, or of failing, or of doing what I have to do. It means that I have a deeper reason to fight than just for myself. We all do, whether we realize it or not. So, am I scared of this guy out there who can order Hive around and teleport? Of course. But I refuse to let my fear stop me from doing what I can to stop him. From fighting these peoples' worst nightmares so they don't have to wake up to them." He squeezed her hand in his, intertwining their fingers. "So, yeah. Uhm. I'm scared, too."

Ahead lay the high gated fence and beyond, the well-lit field that separated the wall from the city. It was the edge of an unfamiliar world. A world where people led normal lives: went to work, went to school, mowed their lawns, and paid their bills late sometimes. A world so alien to him that Koru wondered if Phoenix was right after all.

They summoned their ghosts to show to the security checkpoint and they allowed them entrance immediately. Once again, they were back in the world they truly knew.

The guards shut the gate promptly behind them. The building ahead was the base of the Tower: white, plain, square, and huge. They entered and hung a sharp left down the hall that housed the elevators that led up to guardians' apartments.

They stopped by the third elevator and Eve pressed the button to call it down.

"Tonight was great." He looked to her, lost in her emerald eyes.

"Yeah." She agreed with a smile.

The steel elevator doors opened and she stepped into the empty, wood-paneled cabin. She let go of his hand and they looked at each other from opposite sides of the open door.

"When do you think we can do it again?" He asked, only a little nervously. When he smiled, her smirk widened into a grin.

Before the doors could shut she held her hand out to open them again, then reached and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him into the elevator, wrapping her arms around him and embracing him with a warm, passionate kiss. After a while she made herself pull away from his lips. She breathed a little heavier, and her eyes shone up at his own. "How about right now?"

 **END**


End file.
